8.1. Server management challenges

Enterprise DBAs—those who manage complex environments with a mix of database products and versions—face a number of challenges. In addition to keeping many systems up and running, they need to provide a smooth path for the implementation of changes to production databases. Before looking at policy-based management in depth, let's spend some time covering the typical enterprise environment and the tasks faced by an enterprise DBA.

8.1.1. Enterprise environments

In a typical enterprise environment (see figure 8.1 for a simple example), one of the first things that comes to mind is the number of production server instances requiring support. A large number of servers are usually accompanied by a mix of product ...

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